1988Released
3:40

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about The Promise. By Songfacts®.

When In Rome started out as a British new wave trio consisting of vocalists Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann, and keyboardist Michael Floreale. Farrington and Mann had been members of a locally popular band called Beau Leisure when they decided to strike out on their own. This song was from their debut LP in 1988 and was an instant hit, reaching #11 on the Billboard Top 100. However, it turned out to be their only major hit. Farrington and Mann went on to other things, but they continued to stay in touch and write together. Floreale revived the group under the name When In Rome II in the mid-2000s with vocalist John Ceravolo and drummer Chris Willett. In 2009, Farrington and Mann reformed as When In Rome UK with drummer Rob Juarez.

This song was used in the 2004 hit movie Napoleon Dynamite at the end scene when Napoleon asks, "Do you wanna play me?" and also in the credit sequence.

The band name was inspired by the idiom "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," which encourages adapting to the culture of the places we visit. Farrington got the idea when he and Floreale, both Manchester natives, were visiting London. He recalled in a 2012 interview with the newspaper The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania): "I distinctly remember dropping Mike off at a very unique food shop and saying something like, 'Let's try some of that,' followed by, 'When in Rome' - this was and still is my dad's favorite saying. This meant, of course, 'When in London, do as the Londoners do.' When Mike returned to the car, I said, 'How about When in Rome for the name of the band.' We both very enthusiastically agreed. When we both told Andrew, he gave the name his total blessing."

Top Listeners

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of The Promise.
CKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
118BPM

Album

The album The Promise is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released The Promise.
Virgin
© 1988 Virgin Records Limited
℗ 1988 Virgin Records Limited

See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.

Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.

5.8MArtists
73.6MSongs
12.3MAlbums
6.3KGenres
2.5MLabels
493KPlaylists